January 2023 Faculty Spotlight

We welcome Assistant Professor Ashley Gaskew to the Marxe School and discuss the two courses she is teaching during her first academic year at the School, her higher education-based research, and more.

About Assistant Professor Ashley Gaskew
Dr. Gaskew’s research explores the impact of socioeconomic policies on faculty culture and faulty experiences across the macro, meso, and micro-levels of society and within postsecondary education. She has also published research on the impact and contributions of for-profit and community college institutions and their relationship with academia. Her co-edited book Critical Theory and Qualitative Data Analysis in Education explores the tensions and opportunities in education through equitable and transformational analysis lenses.

What are you teaching this academic year?
For the 2022-2023 academic year, I am teaching Introduction to Higher Education and Diversity of Higher Education. Both courses provide a chance to engage the nuanced complexities of higher education, past and present. I encourage students to bring their full, complex, and holistic selves to the courses, including professional and personal experiences. I also encourage ways for us to envision higher education moving forward and create pockets of aspiration and change. The higher education administration program students have breadth and depth in how they approach the field, which makes them poised to impact thoughtful change. I am honored and happy to support them along their journey, both professionally and academically.

What attracted you to the Marxe School?
I enjoy that the higher education program is couched in a policy school. This allows us to explore the ways policy and the larger society intersect with the field of postsecondary education. My undergraduate degree from the University of Chicago is in public policy, so I find this program a great blend of two passions of mine. Postsecondary education is inherently interdisciplinary, and this program allows faculty and students to explore the impact and reach of postsecondary education across many levels. Additionally, the Marxe School provides the opportunity to explore the impact of international policies and practices; we are all connected and what happens in one area impacts us all in meaningful ways. Many postsecondary education institutions can learn from each other globally, and this program provides pathways for exploration and growth.

Tell us about your research.
I am excited to expand upon my research here at Baruch. I study the roles and impacts of contingent faculty, specifically at for-profit institutions and community colleges. I critically examine how the working environments of faculty members are impacted by federal and state policies and practices (macro-level), institutional policies and cultures (meso-level), and individual faculty members’ experiences and training (micro-level). I am continuing this research through multiple critical methodologies to understand the many factors that impact the ways faculty members actualize their roles and responsibilities.